Ezekiel 6:11-14

11 “ ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the people of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague.
12 One who is far away will die of the plague, and one who is near will fall by the sword, and anyone who survives and is spared will die of famine. So will I pour out my wrath on them.
13 And they will know that I am the LORD, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak—places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.
14 And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah[a] —wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’ ”

Ezekiel 6:11-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 6

This chapter contains a prophecy of the desolation of the whole land of Israel, and a promise that a remnant should escape, with a lamentation for the sad destruction, signified by some gestures of the prophet. The order to the prophet to deliver out the prophecy is in Eze 6:1,2; the several parts of the land of Israel or Judea, to which the prophecy is directed, are signified by mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys, on which the sword should be brought, Eze 6:3; the desolation is described, and the cause of it suggested, the idolatry of the people, Eze 6:4-7; the promise of a remnant that should escape, who should remember the Lord, loath themselves for their sins, acknowledge him, and that his word was not in vain, is in Eze 6:8-10; the lamentation, signified by the prophet's smiting with his hand, and stamping with his foot, for the sins of the people, and the judgments that should come upon them, is in Eze 6:11; a particular enumeration of these judgments follows, and of the places where they should be executed, Eze 6:12; the end of them was to bring them to the knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord, against whom they had sinned and offended by their idolatry, as the places where their slain fell would show, Eze 6:13; and the chapter is concluded with a resolution to bring this desolation on them, Eze 6:14.

Cross References 8

  • 1. S Jeremiah 42:22; Ezekiel 5:12; Ezekiel 21:14,17; Ezekiel 22:13; Ezekiel 25:6
  • 2. S Job 20:23
  • 3. S Ezekiel 5:12; Ezekiel 7:15
  • 4. S Leviticus 26:30
  • 5. S Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 57:5
  • 6. S 1 Kings 14:23; S Jeremiah 2:20; Ezekiel 18:6; Ezekiel 20:28; Hosea 4:13
  • 7. S Exodus 7:5; S Job 30:21; S Jeremiah 6:12; Jeremiah 51:25; Ezekiel 20:34; Isaiah 5:25
  • 8. Ezekiel 12:19; Ezekiel 14:13

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Most Hebrew manuscripts; a few Hebrew manuscripts "Riblah"
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